House of Seizures
by confusedsarcasm
Summary: When Cuddy has a seizure in the middle of the hospital, it's up to House and his team to find out why before her unknown illness kills her. But is the answer as easy as a simple diagnosis when Cuddy's hallucinations aren't what they seem?
1. An Unlikely Patient

A/N: I probably shouldn't start another fic when I've already got two going, but I wanted to try writing a fic with a little more medical stuff in it. I've also separated the paragraphs so that it might be easier to read. If it isn't or if you don't like it this way then tell me and I'll go back to arranging it in paragraphs. So here's the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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"Any other symptoms in addition to your head aching that would point to a brain tumor?" House asked the slightly balding man in front of him wearing a Nickelback t-shirt. 

"No, that's all. But my head really hurts and I don't know why." The man reached up and pressed his hand to the side of his head for effect.

"Oh, no. This isn't good."

The man looked on in horror as House flipped through some papers on his clipboard with a look of dread on his face.

"You have…a headache!" House said dramatically as if a headache was the rarest thing in the world.

The man looked shocked and House continued, "Take some asprin and stop going to rock concerts. You're too old for them anyways."

The man looked on too dumbfounded to say anything as House left the room.

House walked up to the nurses' station and dropped the patient's file into a tray on top of the counter.

"Dr. House checks out. Five o'clock."

He turned towards the front doors of the hospital and began to make his way to them when a familiar voice stopped him.

"It's four thirty."

House spun around to see Cuddy signing something and handing it back to a nurse as she spoke again.

"You can see at least one more patient can't you?"

Before House had a chance to respond, Cuddy fell to the floor and began convulsing.

House quickly knelt down next to her, ignoring the protest his leg put up with that action, and turned her over on her side as she vomited, all the while trying to control her thrashing and keep her head from hitting the ground.

House shouted orders at the numerous nurses who had rushed over to help and Cuddy was injected with an anti-seizure medication as a gurney was wheeled up next to her.

House watched as Cuddy stopped seizing and was lifted carefully onto the gurney and wheeled away into the elevator.

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A/N: Tell me what you think and I'll try to update as soon as someone with three fics going can. The next chapter will be House discussing with his team about possible reasons for Cuddy to randomly start seizing in the middle of the hospital. The more reviews I get, the faster I will update! Oh, and give me some new ideas for the title if you have any! 


	2. Fishing in the Dark

A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed! Here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: see chapter one

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House swung open the doors of the diagnostics department and made his way over to the whiteboard. 

Foreman, Chase, and Cameron stopped what they were doing and simultaneously looked up from their places around the table to read what House was writing.

"That's it?" Foreman spoke up from the head of the table after reading the only symptom listed on the board.

House turned around. "The patient is having _seizures_. Isn't that enough to deal with?" he said sarcastically, and then added, "How insensitive of you."

Foreman rolled his eyes. "Yes, _I'm _the insensitive one."

House ignored him and gestured towards his team with his hands to get things going. "Well?"

Cameron was the first to speak. "Any recent head injuries or trauma?"

"No…at least I don't think so." At that moment House realized that he probably didn't contain sufficient knowledge of Cuddy to properly diagnose her. She appeared perfectly normal before she arbitrarily started to seize and until he talked to her he wouldn't have any idea of where to begin.

But talking to patients wasn't House's style and she wasn't awake yet, so he would have to carry on with this case in the dark until then.

"No." he said, firmly this time. "What else?"

"Alcohol or drug abuse?" suggested Chase.

"No." House shot that idea down quickly. Cuddy wasn't the type of person to abuse alcohol or drugs.

"Everybody lies." Chase repeated House's words.

"It's not that." House was sure of it. "What else?"

Foreman spoke this time. "Brain tumor."

House imitated a look of surprise. "The neurologist thinks it's a brain tumor!"

House had just about enough time bouncing ideas off of his team and decided to send them off to do something productive.

He looked at his team, "Go get a tox screen to rule out drugs and alcohol and a CT to check for any head injuries before we go digging around in her brain for tumors."

No one moved. "What are you waiting for?" House asked impatiently.

"Who's the patient?" Cameron asked.

"Cuddy." House replied shortly, then added as an afterthought, "Oh, and get her medical history while you're at it."

At their shocked faces, House turned and pushed his way past his speechless team to limp through the doors once again.

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A/N: Sorry it's so short but I have other fics that I need to update and not enough time. It'll get more exciting soon, I promise. I have this idea, but I don't know if I'll use it or not. But anyways, leave me a review and I'll make up my mind faster! 


	3. Hallucinations

A/N: I think this chapter will actually start to take the story somewhere, so here it is.

Disclaimer: see chapter one

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If House wanted to properly diagnose Cuddy then he needed to get some information from her, so he slid open the door to her room uncharacteristically quietly as to not disturb her and stepped inside.

He quickly scanned over the room and was surprised to see that she wasn't there. House turned around and left the room to confront one of the nurses. "Where's Cuddy?" he asked crossly.

The nurse seemed confused. "She's in room 257," she replied plainly.

Realizing that she hadn't been moved to a different room and this nurse knew nothing of her whereabouts, he left hurriedly and limped quickly through the hospital corridors in search of her.

He rounded the corner towards her office and caught sight of Wilson talking to a patient's family outside of one of the hospital rooms. Judging by Wilson's distraught appearance it seemed important, but House didn't care. He walked up to Wilson and interrupted whatever bad news he was delivering. Before Wilson could reprimand House with another lecture of his, House spoke up.

"Cuddy's missing." He said suddenly.

Wilson was rendered speechless for a moment, but quickly regained his composed and excused himself from the distressed family, who gaped at him in disbelief as he turned his back to them and walked away with House.

"What do you mean missing?" he asked concerned.

"I mean she's not in her room," replied House shortly. "What do you think I mean?" he added condescendingly.

"Okay," Wilson started to think, "Hopefully she's still somewhere in the hospital. You look in her office and I'll go check the roof." House nodded and with that they split up and went their separate ways in search of Cuddy.

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Cuddy looked around her in confusion. 'Why am I on the roof?' she thought to herself.

She tried to remember where she was last and shook her head in defeat when she couldn't remember anything. She peered out over the edge of the roof at the park across from the hospital. She watched as a young woman peacefully lounged under a tree reading a book. Suddenly, a man appeared from behind the tree with a gun. Cuddy watched in horror from her place on the roof as the woman was attacked viciously by the man, with no one around to help her.

A gunshot rang out through the air at the same time she heard a familiar voice.

She turned around shocked at the sudden intrusion, but was relived to see that it was only Wilson. "Wilson!" she said frantically, "that woman needs help!" she turned and pointed in the direction of the park.

What she saw confused her.

Wilson walked up next to her and glanced at where she was currently pointing. All he saw was a couple of people walking around the park, a family having a picnic, and a young woman serenely reading a book under the shade of a tree.

Wilson looked at Cuddy skeptically and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "There's nothing there, Cuddy." She was still staring at the park dazed. "Come on. You should be resting." They turned around and Wilson led Cuddy back to her room.

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A/N: I wasn't too proud of this fic until now. I think I have some good ideas as of where this is going, but what do you think? To say I've been busy is a bit of an understatement, so just leave me a review and I'll try to update faster.


	4. Reality

A/N: Thank you for reviewing. It seriously helped me write this chapter as fast as I did. So for those of you who are reading, here it is!

Disclaimer: see chapter one

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Cuddy was now safely in her room, laid back on the bed once again attached to IV's and other machines. To anyone from the outside who saw her she was the picture of relaxation, but on the inside Cuddy was frantic. She couldn't get the images of that young woman in the park out of her mind. She was sure it was real. It had to be. 

Wilson sat in a chair by her bedside silently watching her. He could tell there was something wrong, but she wouldn't tell him anything since they arrived back in this room. The only thing he could think to do was call House so he wouldn't have to worry anymore and wait for him to inevitably show up.

As expected, the glass door slid open swiftly and House appeared in the doorway. He visibly relaxed when he saw Cuddy in her bed resting, just as she should be and walked further into the room, sliding the door back closed gently. He walked up to her bed and took a seat in the unoccupied chair on the other side of Cuddy's bed. House rested his chin on the handle of his cane and started to question Cuddy.

"What happened?" he inquired softly.

Cuddy only shook her head in response and shrugged her shoulders.

Wilson spoke up from the other side of Cuddy. "Why were you on the roof?"

The look of confusion reappeared on Cuddy's face. "I honestly don't know." She sighed, "I can't even remember what happened after I caught House leaving the clinic early."

House narrowed his eyes. "Memory loss," he stated to himself quietly. "Come on, Cuddy. Try to remember what happened on the roof."

Cuddy closed her eyes and tilted her head in thought. "I was looking at the park…" Cuddy pressed her hand to her forehead and groaned in frustration.

"You saw a woman." Wilson tried to help jog Cuddy's memory, "You said she needed help."

Cuddy's eyes flew open in recollection. "Yes, that's it!"

House sat up straighter in his seat as Wilson moved closer to the edge of his. Both men's full attention was solely focused on Cuddy.

A sudden commotion from outside in the hallway tore Cuddy away from her thoughts. She turned her head to look through the glass walls of her room to see what was going on. Being wheeled into the emergency room on a gurney was a young woman. Cuddy sat up abruptly in her bed and darted out the door after the speeding gurney, IV's dangling behind her insignificantly.

Wilson jumped to his feet and ran after Cuddy, House trailing not too far behind. Cuddy was next to the gurney in a heartbeat and shock coursed through her veins as she looked at the woman and registered who she was. It was the woman in the park. "What happened?" shouted Cuddy over the noise and panic.

The doctors controlling her gurney replied curtly, "She was found in the park. She was shot in the stomach, but we're not sure of…" their voices trailed off as Cuddy stopped dead in her tracks.

"Cuddy!" Wilson and House caught up to Cuddy and came to stand on either side of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" House asked incredulously.

"It was real." Cuddy mumbled to herself.

"What?" she had said it so quietly that House didn't hear her.

Cuddy addressed House and Wilson this time. "That was the woman in the park." At House and Wilson's confused looks she continued, "The one that needed help."

"But what did you see?" asked Wilson, "There was nothing happening in that park." He was becoming irritated with his lack of information.

Before Cuddy could reply, she swayed heavily on her feet and collapsed, making contact with the floor for the second time that day.

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A/N: Come on, I know you're reading this! So please review and tell me what you think! Oh, and if you're reading one of my other fics, I'm trying to find time to update them as well. This one is just easier for some reason. So many fics, so little time. But time will move slower if you review! 


	5. Dangers of Child's Play

House pushed open the doors to the diagnostics break room with such force that the glass could have shattered. Fortunately, the doorstop prevented this from happening and House limped hastily in a straight path towards the whiteboard, his team watching him the entire way. All this kneeling on the ground next to Cuddy's unconscious body really took a toll on his leg and he was now limping more predominantly against his cane. The dry-erase marker squeaked rapidly as House added more symptoms to the board. Foreman, Chase, and Cameron looked at it carefully before speaking.

'Seizures'

'Memory loss'

'Hallucinations'

'Loss of consciousness'

"Could be-" Chase started.

"Wait!" interrupted House, "First, tell me the results of the tests."

Chase spoke up again. "Tox-" House interrupted him yet again.

"-Screen was negative." He said dismissingly. _'Of course it was negative._' thought House. "What else?"

The only thing Chase wanted to do now was get a complete sentence out. "CT revealed-"

"Eh," House smiled as Chase moaned loudly and sunk lower into his chair, crossing his arms in defiance.

"House!" Wilson had joined the room to sit in on Cuddy's diagnosis and was leaning against the wall next to the door. "That isn't going to help Cuddy."

The smile disappeared from House's face. "Right." he said quietly. "Go on." he nodded towards Chase. The only thing he got in return was a scowl and silence.

Cameron took that opportunity to speak in Chase's place. "The CT revealed nothing."

House concealed his concern moderately well. "Alright. Did you get her medical history?"

"Right here." Foreman extended his arm to give House Cuddy's medical file.

House flipped it open and scanned over it quickly. _'She's perfectly healthy.'_ House was at least hoping that there would be something in her medical file that could help them diagnose her."Well, what else could it be?" he said it so quietly that it was almost as if he were speaking to himself. They weren't thinking fast enough for House and he spoke up louder and more clearly this time. "Come on! What does she have? Chase!" Chase looked up at House. "What were you trying to say earlier?"

"It could be lupus." Chase said hopefully.

House rolled his eyes. "It's _never_ lupus."

Foreman spoke next, "Look, the tox screen and CT were clear. Maybe she just has epilepsy." he said the last part a bit quieter than the rest and the room fell silent.

"Epilepsy isn't a suitable diagnosis." said House angrily. "It's just code for 'I can't figure out what's wrong, so we'll call it epilepsy.'" House threw the dry-erase marker he was still holding down at the whiteboard and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Cameron.

"Cuddy's room." he replied, and stopped to turn and look at his team. "We need to know more of her symptoms."

"And you're going to do that by actually talking to a patient?" Foreman said incredulously.

"You have a better idea?" House shot back at him.

"Well, it's just that you never-" House didn't want to waste his time talking about this and turned to walk out the door. Wilson, Foreman, Chase, and Cameron stared at the door confused. Just then House poked his head back in.

"Are you coming?" he asked, more of a command then a question. They all got up and headed towards Cuddy's room. House turned towards Chase, "And bring the whiteboard." Chase did what he was told without protest and followed the rest of the doctors to Cuddy's room.

Cuddy shifted uncomfortably on the bed and moaned in frustration. She was feeling drowsy, but she couldn't fall asleep. She was too confused and her thoughts of why she was here, and what she saw in the park and emergency room kept her awake. She gave up on rest and looked around in confusion. Her eyes fell on the clipboard at the foot of the bed and she made a move to sit up, but instantly recoiled as her muscles protested greatly. She lie back in her bed and turned her head to look out the window.

She had a great view of a grassy area next to the hospital and watched as a couple of children played happily in the sun. She watched them unperturbed while they tossed a soft football back and forth. They missed a couple of times and the ball bounced around on the ground a while before one of the children would run up and pick it up, throw it and resume their game.

The next time one of them didn't catch it the ball bounced unevenly on the ground into the street next to the makeshift football field. The child ran after it as he had done many times before. Only this time he was unaware of the approaching car heading rapidly his way. Cuddy watched on helplessly in her bed. The sun was shining too brightly for her and she shielded her eyes with her hands, turning her head in the opposite direction, the direction of the door. She crooked her head back out towards the window hastily to check on the boy only to find that she was looking at nothing but grass and one lone oak tree. She blinked a couple of times in bewilderment and tuned her head away from the window again, resting her head heavily against her pillow.

The door she was looking at suddenly slid open and House appeared from outside it, his team and Wilson following closely behind. She watched in silence as they made their way to the foot of her bed and Chase set up the whiteboard in the corner by the window where they all could see it. Cuddy remained silent and didn't even give as much as a nod to acknowledge their existence. She didn't even know if they did exist. How could she differentiate between what was real and what wasn't anymore?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by House's voice. She would just have to deal with it for now. And put her life in House's hands. _'I wouldn't have it any other way._' thought Cuddy as House bombarded her with questions.

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A/N: Review Please! I need motivation! Any thoughts at all will do. And anonymous reviews have been enabled. I just realized that they weren't before when I thought I'd already changed it, but apparently I didn't. But I fixed it, so there's no reason for you not to review now! 


	6. Subtle Killer

A/N: Sorry this took so long! Here's the next chapter! Please read and review!

Disclaimer: see chapter one

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Cuddy was having difficulty concentrating on House's barrage of questions and put a hand to her eyes to shield the light from the open window. The same window that she had been watching those children… "House." at the sound of Cuddy's voice House stopped talking and turned away from the whiteboard and towards Cuddy. "Have there been any new patients admitted into the emergency room?" 

Cuddy's question intrigued House and he couldn't help but question it. "I don't know, why?"

Cuddy seemed relieved and dismissed House's question. "Nothing."

House narrowed his eyes and continued to find more of Cuddy's symptoms. "What were you doing before you came down to the clinic?" asked House.

Cuddy shook her head, "I don't know, working?" her hand was still up beside her face, shielding her eyes. "Can someone shut the blinds?" she turned her head even farther away from the window.

Cameron made her way over to the window, but House's voice stopped her. "Wait." House walked over to Cuddy's bedside and shone a light to Cuddy's pupils. She reflexively recoiled almost instantly and swatted the light away with her other hand. "Visual sensitivity to light." House stated out loud as he added it to the list of symptoms on the whiteboard and Cameron finally closed the blinds, much to Cuddy's delight.

"You didn't have to shine the light in my eyes, you could've just asked me." said Cuddy, drowsily.

"Oh really," replied House, "well, what else can you tell me?" Cuddy only sighed and relaxed further into the hospital bed. "Seriously, I need something to work with here." prompted House.

"I don't know okay! Just leave me alone!" Cuddy's sudden outburst startled everyone in the room. The silence now enveloping the room was broken with the squeaking of dry erase marker on the whiteboard. "Irritability." House mumbled, "Not to different from the usual." Chase couldn't help but give a small smirk at the comment.

"This is ridiculous! I have to much work to do for this!" Cuddy began to take the IV's out of her arm and sat up a little straighter. By the time she had swung her legs over the edge of the bed House was by her side and blocking her way to getting off the bed. Cuddy groaned in frustration and swung her body around to get off of the bed from the other side, only to be met by Wilson. She threw her hands up in defeat and lay back in bed. "Fine! I'll stay. But please just leave so I can get some rest." Cuddy appeared to be more relaxed now and House and Wilson backed away from her bedside. Without notice, Cuddy jumped up suddenly and was on her feet moving towards the door within seconds. Before anyone could react, Cuddy swayed back and forth and stumbled a few times before falling to the ground. Chase and Foreman were first to her side and helping her up and back into bed.

"That's enough for now." House knew he wouldn't get anything else out of Cuddy when she was like this and decided to leave her alone as she requested. They left Cuddy's room the very same way they entered, with House leading and Chase trailing behind everyone carrying the whiteboard. Only this time it had more symptoms scrawled on it.

"Now that's why I don't see patients." commented House when they returned back to the conference room.

They were all back in their original places as if they had never left at all and staring intently at the whiteboard, which House had added some new symptoms to.

'Seizures'

'Vomiting'

'Memory loss'

'Confusion'

'Hallucinations'

'Loss of consciousness'

'Visual sensitivity to light'

'Irritability'

'Drowsiness'

'Clumsiness'

"So we've ruled out trauma and drug abuse. What else could it be?" House was a little disappointed at the visit to Cuddy's room. Usually his patients would present with some huge symptom that would ultimately lead to solving the case. But Cuddy's symptoms were just so subtle. Well, besides the seizures and hallucinations, but those hadn't presented recently. It could be almost anything.

"Well with all those symptoms it could be anything." Cameron stated.

"Really? I didn't know that." House replied sarcastically, "But I thought your job was to diagnose patients not state the obvious. How about something a little more specific."

The beeping of about three pagers prevented Cameron from responding. The doctors looked at each other worriedly and bolted out of the room hastily towards Cuddy's room once again.

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A/N: Hmmm…well what do you think? I think the next chapter is where things will get really interesting. :D 


	7. Light up the Darkness

**Disclaimer: see chapter one**

"Shit!" House was the first one to slide open the door to Cuddy's room and immediately rushed by her side, pushing aside the attending nurse like a rag doll. "Cuddy!" House said in a firm tone of voice, as if saying her name would get her to stop convulsing. He reached down and tried to hold her still. Foreman, Chase, Cameron, and Wilson entered soon after and watched as Cuddy convulsed violently in her bed.

After a brief moment the commotion wore down and Cuddy stopped thrashing. House watched as her eyes opened for a brief moment and she looked at him, something of confusion then relief flooded her eyes before closing again. She now lay silently in her bed, a heavy sheen of sweat coating her pale face and dampening the curly hairs framing her face. House addressed his team, all the while never tearing his eyes away from Cuddy. "The seizures are getting worse." House brought his face up to look at Foreman, his suggestion of epilepsy still fresh in his mind. "Give her phenytoin to stop the seizures and a PET scan to pinpoint the location of these seizures."

Foreman looked at House quizzically. "Are you actually considering that she might have epilepsy?"

"No." House replied stubbornly, "we're going to figure this out." it was almost as if he said that last statement to Cuddy herself rather than to his team. House limped quietly past his team and Wilson to retreat into the confines of his office, most likely to sit in the dark and stare at the whiteboard of symptoms while he waited for Cuddy's PET results.

As House was making his way solemnly towards his office, a gurney rushed passed him in the hallway. He didn't have much time to discern what was going on, but he could barely make out the figure of a young child being wheeled towards the emergency room bleeding profusely.

House ignored it continued to his office, his thoughts focused solely on Cuddy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark.

That was the first thing Cuddy noticed of her surroundings. It was the only thing she _could_ make of her surroundings. The complete darkness enveloped her whole being like a heavy blanket and only served to heighten her other four senses. The wind whistled softly and gently caressed her face letting her know she was obviously outside as she heard the undeniable sounds of someone's footsteps off in the distance.

She wasn't alone.

The fear of not knowing shook her to her core and she felt her blood run cold. She took a few cautious steps forward into the darkness when a street lamp burst to life off in the distance. Her eyes took a moment to adjust and she turned her head side to side, desperate to find out where she was.

It was the hospital parking lot.

'How did I get here?' She thought to herself, still looking all about her in a cautious effort to identify her company. Then she saw it.

House. In the now near darkness he was hard to identify, but she didn't know many other men who walked around in the hospital parking lot at night with a cane. She took a couple hesitant steps forward just be sure, but stopped dead in her tracks as he became visible. He was hunched over in what appeared to be a gesture of immense pain, clutching his stomach almost as tightly as he was clutching his cane. His clothes were blood stained and his hair was also matted down with blood. He seemed to be in a frantic attempt to reach his motorcycle.

"House!" Cuddy couldn't help but cry out. House stopped what he was doing and lifted his eyes to meet Cuddy's. The pain she saw in his eyes was beyond anything she'd ever seen before.

"Cuddy." he said weakly, "Cuddy!" he said, his voice more powerful this time.

In an instant everything changed. The light filled her world completely now and she closed her eyes at the sudden assault of brightness. She opened them again and found herself in a hospital room, being looked down upon by House, free of the blood and tremendous amount of pain reflected in his eyes. She closed her eyes again, this time drifting off and away from the sounds of chaos and panic all around her. And her world became dark once again.

**A/N: …Sooo…tell me what you think! Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	8. Just Breathe

A/N: I'm sooo sorry it's been so long! I had to re-read it all just to refresh my mind! But hopefully this chapter makes up for the wait! I've made a medical outline for the plot so I should be back on track now! Please read and review if I haven't lost you! And if there are any errors concerning the medical procedures at all just let me know. I've done my research, but I'm still not a doctor so I would be interested if I made any crucial mistakes.

Disclaimer: House, M.D. is the property of Fox and David Shore, not me by any means; nor will I ever own any fraction of this amazing show.

On with the story!!!

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"We have a problem," started Cameron unsurely as she, Chase, and Foreman re-entered House's office where he was currently juggling his infamous red ball on the head of his cane, his Nike covered feet crossed over each other and propped up on top of his desk, resting on a seemingly unimportant stack of paperwork.

Upon hearing those words House abruptly stopped his unique form of entertainment and the ball fell to the carpeted floor of House's office with a deep thud.

"Judging by the lack of information in your hands, after I specifically sent you out to perform a PET scan on the patient, you either got lost or the machine is broken." House shrugged his shoulders. "Now this hospital is an impressive size, but considering I didn't hire three morons—"

"Cuddy's not in her room." Foreman broke the news quickly and House almost seemed to roll his eyes at this statement.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" asked House in an aggravated tone of voice, "you think she'll be there if I come along with you?" House removed his feet from his desk and stood slowly to his feet, grabbing his cane from its resting place at the side of his desk. "Go look for her!" he demanded, pointing out the direction of his office door they had just recently entered with his free hand.

His team quickly exited the office and House shook his head, pulling his pager from his jacket pocket.

-----

"With chemotherapy and the advancements made in recent years the quality of life now for your situation is substantially more fulfilling—"

Wilson reached down into his pocket upon the sudden intrusive beeping it caused and frowned at the interruption.

_Cuddy's missing  
__-H_

The scowl on Wilson's face quickly transformed into one of panic as he silently read the message it held.

"I'm so sorry, excuse me." Wilson hastily exited his office, leaving his patient behind him so quickly he didn't notice the exasperated confusion on her face as he took off down the hospital corridors.

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_Not on the roof  
__-W_

_Not in her office  
__-H_

_Cafeteria's clear  
__-Cam_

_Chapel's empty  
__-Chase_

_Not in ER, OR, ICU  
__-F_

_Keep looking  
__-H_

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House retreated from Cuddy's office in a hurry, intent on checking the security tapes; hoping to find that Cuddy at least hadn't left the hospital.

Passing though the halls of the diagnostics department, he stopped suddenly as he detected movement within his peripheral vision.

There she was.

The panic slowly leaving his body, House watched through the glass walls as Cuddy sat at the head of the table in the break room; a variety of books were splayed out across the table in front of her ranging from neurology to psychology to Greek mythology.

"You have one of the best rooms in the hospital," said House casually as he entered the room. "Why do you have such a problem staying there?" he asked despairingly.

Cuddy's head snapped up at House's voice.

"You're in no condition to be running around the hospital," chided House, "go back to your room."

"And you're in no position to be telling me what to do," retorted Cuddy as her head dropped back into her books in front of her.

"Still irritable I see," House remarked dryly. "Here's how this is going to work," started House firmly, "you're either going to go back to your room on your own," House slapped his hand down on the page of the book Cuddy was currently reading unexpectedly, causing her to jump back in surprise and look at him, "or we'll sit here and argue until you have another seizure and I have to drag you back to your room."

The two shared a silent stare in the darkened office; the blinds had been drawn closed. Cuddy was the first to break the heavy silence. "I've been taking the phenytoin you prescribed for me." Cuddy said in an unidentifiable tone of voice. "I won't be seizing anytime soon." she stated quickly after.

"That doesn't mean—"

"Interesting choice," Cuddy interrupted, "an anti-epileptic medication…"

House was silent for a moment before he responded, "It would stop your seizures," he explained himself.

"Exactly," said Cuddy pointedly. "Now why would you want to do that?"

Her eyes fell to the table below her as she considered this action, "The seizures were the only prime cause for my illness, and everything else was merely trivial."

She looked back up at House, her face filled with confusion. "So why would you take away the mediating factor of my illness and leave me only with the insignificant symptoms consistent of the common cold?"

She collected her books and arranged them carefully in her arms before standing slowly onto her feet. "That's not your style," she stated factually as she brushed past the dumbstruck House to return to her room.

Not one to be left at a loss of words, House turned the subject of the conversation towards Cuddy. "It's not polite to steal from my office," he said, referring to the stack of books she cradled firmly in her arms.

"It's my hospital," Cuddy pointed out with a satisfactory smile, "therefore, I have access to everything in this hospital—even your office."

House pretended to act shocked, "Then I should probably hide my secret porn stash," House said with false importance, "I wouldn't want those to somehow get _stolen_."

"That's not as secret as you think, House," Cuddy said with a small grin as she turned to retreat from the room.

Cuddy was surprised when House followed her out the glass doors and into the hallway. Upon Cuddy's irritated look House spoke up, "Just making sure you don't escape again. We can't afford to continue losing the patient." he said, referring to Cuddy.

As they walked towards her room, Cuddy said a silent thank you to whoever made sure to give her a close backed hospital gown, for House was trailing closely behind her; probably checking out her ass again.

-----

Cuddy settled into her hospital bed after placing her books on the end table beside her and released a deep breath. Her room was now occupied by House, Wilson, Chase, Cameron, and Foreman and she only wished for them to go away.

"How are you feeling?" asked Wilson as he stepped up to Cuddy's bedside.

"Do you really have to ask?" said Cuddy harshly, but quickly reprimanded herself as the starkness of her voice registered in her own mind.

"I'm sorry, Wilson," she began softly, "I know you're here because you care about me, but I'd like to be alone right now."

Wilson nodded his understanding and turned to leave. His absence allowed the ray of light to fall upon her face from the window and she recoiled from in instantly. Remembering her visual sensitivity to light, Cameron made her way quickly to the window and shut part of the blinds, leaving a steady stream of light to fall upon her exposed legs.

Cuddy nodded her thanks as everyone turned to leave, but a weak groan of pain from Cuddy stopped them in their tracks. It sounded again, this time Cuddy's hands reaching out towards her chest. The doctors stood still for a moment, trying to discern what was going on and if were serious or not, when Cuddy became breathless.

The doctors crowded Cuddy's bedside as she struggled desperately for any amount of air to fill her lungs.

"She can't breath!" Foreman called out, "We need to intubate!"

As Chase rushed over with the endotracheal tube and Cameron appeared at the other side of Cuddy's bed with Laryngoscope Cuddy drew in a deep breath, her face reflecting an immense amount of pain by doing so. This unexpected intake of air stopped Foreman in his tracks as he looked at Cuddy. She was still clutching her chest tightly and making muffled sounds of pain.

"It's a pleural effusion!" stated Foreman suddenly as he tossed the endotracheal tube aside and reached out to Cuddy. "Help me turn her to her side!" Chase assisted in shifting Cuddy as Cameron left, only to return quickly to inject Cuddy with a local anaesthetic.

Foreman exposed the side of Cuddy's chest and Cameron administered an antiseptic solution to the area as Foreman made a small cut into Cuddy's chest and inserted a cannula needle in the incision.

The doctors watched with a mixture of dread and relief as a steady stream of liquid drained out of the tube connected to Cuddy's chest and into the drainage bag below her, leaving a slight bloodstained tint behind it in the tube.

As the fluid drained from Cuddy's lungs her breathing eventually steadied. The doctors were too preoccupied with the sight of the bloodstained liquid draining from their boss that they could only stare at it speechless. All except House, who slowly made his way over to the foot of Cuddy's bed.

The other doctors in the room drew their attention to the direction of House's gaze slowly to see what had intrigued him so much.

Illuminated by the still steady steam of light from the outside window, Cuddy's legs were covered almost entirely with deep red bumps.

House had looked at it long enough and turned to leave the room. Glancing over his shoulder to his team and Wilson he signaled them to follow him with a short gesture of his head. One by one, they filed out of Cuddy's room towards the diagnostics department, a few nurses entering the room as the doctors left it to check up on their boss.

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A/N: You know what to do people! Leave me a review if you're still interested and tell me what you think. In regards to my medical layout I made, we're still at the very top of the list. :D So review to keep me going, and add fuel to my inspirational fire! I have lots of ideas that need to be ignited!


	9. Cassandra's Myth

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! You guys are Amazing!!!  
Disclaimer: see chapter one.

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_Seizures  
Vomiting  
Memory loss  
Confusion  
Hallucinations  
Loss of consciousness  
Visual sensitivity to light  
Irritability  
Drowsiness  
Clumsiness  
__Pleural Effusion  
Rash_

"Now, while Cuddy has a fantastic body," began House, "it doesn't seem to be playing very nice with her." House snapped the cap back onto the dry erase marker and pointed at Cameron. "Her oh so good body is being oh so bad and attacking her major organs," he explained for the cause of the rash, "thankfully, for Cuddy's sake it's decided to take its toll on her skin and not any other important organ."

He tossed the dry erase marker to Cameron who fumbled to catch it but succeeded nonetheless. "What auto-immune diseases fit the bill for these symptoms?" he asked Cameron.

"Sjogren's Syndrome?" Cameron offered weakly.

"Was that a question?" asked House condescendingly.

"I noticed that she developed dry eyes and mouth. It was pretty uncommon considering the amount of fluid she should have been taking."

"But what about the rash?" asked House, "Something like that is a little hard to overlook don't you think?" he asked cynically.

"Multiple Sclerosis would account for her weakness and loss of coordination." Continued Cameron, "Guillain-Barre Syndrome and Myasthenis Gravis could be attributed to her inability to breathe."

"She wasn't unable to breathe," interrupted Foremen, "there was fluid accumulating in her lungs."

"Did I ask about the rash?" asked House sarcastically. "I don't want to hear everything they taught you in med-school; I want to know what fits her symptoms."

"Systemic Lupus Erythematosus," Chase spoke up from behind Cameron.

House considered it for a moment before speaking to Cameron, "You're the immunologist, are you going to let him one-up you like that?"

Before Cameron could respond, Chase spoke again, "It accounts for her fever, fatigue, the rash, and even the seizures," he stated hopefully.

"But how could Cuddy have SLE?" argued Cameron. "It's stimulated by viruses, ultra-violet light, or sun exposure. If she had SLE she would've experienced her symptoms a lot earlier than just now."

House smiled at the sight of his two fellows arguing their points and turned his eyes towards Chase as he spoke next, "Don't you remember?" he began with his hopeful Australian accent, "the rash was covering her legs; her legs were the only part of her body exposed the sun at the time."

Cameron still refused to give up, much to House's delight. "SLE is more predominant in people of African-American, Chinese, and Japanese decent," she presented halfheartedly.

"But it's about eight times more likely to occur in women than men." added Chase, earning himself a faint grin from the still observing House.

"Okay kids, settle down," interrupted House, "This is a good start; what can cause SLE?" Cameron was the first to answer.

"Well," began Cameron, "female hormones could play a big part in it." Cameron shrugged her shoulders, "But unless Cuddy's been taking anything to raise her estrogen levels that dramatically there's really no reason for her to have had an outbreak this severe."

House's mind immediately took him back into the confines of Cuddy's office. More specifically, an image of himself assisting Cuddy in administering part of her in-vitro treatment to get pregnant flashed across his mind.

Wilson, who had remained a silent observer for the entire differential was now more intrigued than ever. He shifted his eyes to House and they shared a silent conversation unknown to the other doctors in the room.

"Stay here; Wilson, keep the differential going." Without another word, House turned and exited the room in the direction of Cuddy's room.

-----

"What is it with you and those books?" asked House as he slid the door to Cuddy's room closed slowly and came to stand at the foot of Cuddy's bed. "I've never seen you read before and now that's all you do."

"Being sick isn't as exciting as you might think," Cuddy said in a weak voice that somehow still managed to maintain its authoritive power. "I need something to keep me occupied."

"Most people enjoy reading novels," stated House factually, "you're reading medical journals and…" he tilted his head down to glance at the cover of the book Cuddy was currently holding on her lap, "Greek mythology?"

House's main reason for being in Cuddy's room had been sidetracked by his persistent urge to understand the unusual—and currently, Cuddy's choice of literature was enough of a mystery to keep him intrigued until he could figure her out.

"We don't raise funds for a library here," explained Cuddy, "Although if you're going to the library anytime soon, feel free to pick me out something interesting to read."

House smirked, and Cuddy corrected herself, "something _appropriate_ to read."

"What are you reading?" inquired House curiously.

"Why are you here?" Cuddy countered.

"I asked you first." House retorted childishly, earning himself an eye roll from Cuddy.

"I'm assuming you're here for my case," started Cuddy, "and if that's so, I should give in and tell you what I'm reading or else I'll die waiting for your answer." Cuddy droned obviously.

House nodded. "That would be a good idea, unless of course you don't value your life."

"Blackmail of the highest degree," commented Cuddy.

House could only smile and wait for his explanation, or story-telling time.

Cuddy sighed before she gave in. She lowered the book into her lap and began a short summary of what she had just read. "I'm assuming you're at least a little familiar with Greek mythology," Cuddy began, but continued without waiting for an answer, "I'm reading about Cassandra's myth." she explained shortly, "According to one version of the story, Cassandra received the power to foretell the future from the god Apollo."

House listened on quietly still at the foot of Cuddy's bed as she went on with the legend.

"Apparently, Apollo instructed and taught her about the art of prophecy because he had an ulterior motive—he wished to win her affections. Cassandra accepted Apollo as a teacher, but not as a lover."

Cuddy shrugged her shoulders, "Naturally, the god was insulted by this refusal—like any man would be," she added a bit cynically, "So he punished Cassandra. Apollo twisted the gift that he gave her, making everyone who heard her true and accurate foretellings of the future believe that they were instead hearing lies," Cuddy summarized.

"In one account," Cuddy continued, "Cassandra warned the Trojans of the impending dangers of accepting the wooden horse from their opponents. But as Apollo made sure, no one believed her. Basically, he turned her gift into a curse."

House remained silent for a moment, contemplating the meaning of this story when Cuddy spoke up again. "Now I believe it's your turn," prompted Cuddy.

"Right," said House, his train of thought momentarily disrupted and brought back to Cuddy's case and not her choice of reading material.

House was never one for beating around the bush, so he decided to be upfront with his question, no matter how thin the ice he was currently treading on was. "Are you still doing the in-vitro?" he asked abruptly.

Cuddy seemed shocked by this question. "Is this relevant to my case?"

"Everything's relevant," stated House quickly.

Cuddy tore her eyes away from House and shook her head slowly. "I stopped a couple of months ago," she said quietly, still not meeting House's eyes.

Again, House's curiosity was stimulated. He wanted to ask her why, but was stopped by Cuddy's tired voice, "Is that it?"

House simply nodded and left her alone to get her rest—she was still sick, and he didn't need to waste anymore time.

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"What else?" House pushed though the doors of the diagnostics break room, causing everyone's heads to turn in his direction.

"The only other cause is drug use." said Wilson defeated.

"And we've already ruled out drugs," stated Foreman.

"Drugs…" House limped up to the whiteboard and erased the last two symptoms. "Drug induced Systemic Lupus Erythematosus can occur as a side effect to drugs like hydralazine for high blood pressure, quinidine and procainamide for abnormal heart rhythm, some medications for tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis…and phenytoin for epilepsy."

House clenched his jaw in frustration. "Take her off the phenytoin—her rash should go away and her lungs should return to normal."

Chase, Cameron, and Foreman all left the room in a hurry, leaving only House and Wilson behind.

"If the SLE didn't cause the seizures, what did?" House asked to no one in particular.

Wilson spoke up hopelessly from his position leaning against the wall next to the white board, "We're back to square one."

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A/N: Another update! Wooh! Review please! It would really make my day!


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